(NOAH) Green Guide to the N-1 VICTORY 2021

PARTICIPANTS

Final scores

Block A

Kaito Kiyomiya - 5

Keiji Mutoh - 4

Takashi Sugiura - 3

Manabu Soya - 0 

Block B

Masaaki Mochizuki - 4

Kenoh - 4

Kendo Kashin - 2 

Daiki Inaba - 2

Block C

Masato Tanaka - 3

Kazushi Sakuraba - 3

Katsuhiko Nakajima - 4

Kotaro Suzuki - 2

Block D

Kazuyuki Fujita - 4

Masakatsu Funaki - 6

Akitoshi Saito - 0 

Masa Kitamiya - 2

Current  GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufuji has chosen not to enter the league. The winner of finals match on October 10th will win the right to challenge him for the title. Date of the championship match will be announced after this. 

DATES & BROADCASTS

N-1 VICTORY 2021 ~ Special Prologue 

Monday, September 6th - Shinjuku Face

Starts: 18:30pm JST Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

N1 ROAD SCRAMBLE 4vs4 Elimination Match

Takashi Sugiura, Kenoh, Kotaro Suzuki & Masa Kitamiya vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Akitoshi Saito

- Match will be in the usual eight man tag format.

- Elimination is by pin fall, submission, knock out or top rope elimination 

- The team who eliminates the other first will win. 

WINNER: Kenoh beat Kaito Kiyomiya with the PFS (54 minutes, 52 seconds)

Night 1

Sunday, September 12th - Korakuen Hall

Starts: 11.30am JST Broadcast: ABEMA (WrestleUniverse subscribers can watch it here)

BLOCK A: Keiji Mutoh vs Takashi Sugiura 

30 minutes time out draw

BLOCK B: Kenoh vs Kendo Kashin

Kendo Kashin via sneak pin (12 minutes, 46 seconds)

BLOCK C: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masato Tanaka 

Masato Tanaka with the Sliding D (14 minutes, 8 seconds)

BLOCK D: Masa Kitamiya vs Kazuyuki Fujita

Kazuyuki Fujita with a kick to the face (9 minutes, 29 seconds)

Night 2

Saturday, September 18th - Noah Special Arena

Starts: 8pm JST Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

This event will be empty arena

BLOCK A: Kaito Kiyomiya vs Manabu Soya

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex Hold (25 minutes, 7 seconds)

BLOCK B: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Daiki Inaba

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the Triangular Kick (12 minutes, 39 seconds)

BLOCK C: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kotaro Suzuki

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the foot entwined modified arm bar (15 minutes, 2 seconds)

BLOCK D: Masakatsu Funaki vs Akitoshi Saito

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the arm lock (12 minutes, 53 seconds)

Night 3

Sunday September 19th - Noah Special Arena

Starts: 8pm JST Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

This event will be empty arena

BLOCK A: Keiji Mutoh vs Manabu Soya

WINNER: Keiji Mutoh via Figure Four Submission (17 minutes, 37 seconds)

BLOCK B: Kenoh vs Daiki Inaba

WINNER: Kenoh with the PFS (14 minutes, 59 seconds)

BLOCK C: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kotaro Suzuki

WINNER: Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (18 minutes, 31 seconds)

BLOCK D: Kazuyuki Fujita vs Akitoshi Saito

WINNER: Kazuyuki Fujita with the Front Neck Lock (13 minutes, 12 seconds)

Night 4

Monday, September 20th - Noah Special Arena

Starts: 8pm JST Broadcast: WrestleUniverse

This event will be empty arena

BLOCK A: Takashi Sugiura vs Kaito Kiyomiya

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with a backwards rotation pin (21 minutes, 5 seconds)

BLOCK B: Kendo Kashin vs Masaaki Mochizuki

WINNER: Masaaki Mochizuki with the schoolboy (9 minutes, 28 seconds)

BLOCK C: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Masato Tanaka

WINNER: Neither (30 minute time limit draw)

BLOCK D: Masa Kitamiya vs Masakatsu Funaki

WINNER: Masakatsu Funaki with the sleeper hold (referee stop - 10 minutes, 54 seconds)

Night 5

Sunday, September 26th - Korakuen Hall

Starts: 18:00 JST Broadcast: ABEMA

BLOCK A: Keiji Mutoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya

Time limit draw, advantage Kaito Kiyomiya (30 minutes)

BLOCK A: Takashi Sugiura vs Manabu Soya

Takashi Sugiura with the front neck choke (referee stop 10 minutes, 19 seconds)

BLOCK B: Kenoh vs Masaaki Mochizuki

Kenoh with the Rear Choke Hold (16 minutes, 30 seconds)

BLOCK B: Kendo Kashin vs Daiki Inaba

Daiki Inaba via count out (7 minutes and 7 seconds)

BLOCK C: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (12 minutes, 33 seconds)

BLOCK C: Masato Tanaka vs Kotaro Suzuki

Kotaro Suzuki with the backslide pin (5 minutes, 26 seconds)

BLOCK D: Kazuyuki Fujita vs Masakatsu Funaki

Masakatsu Funaki with a face kick (5 minutes, 5 seconds)

BLOCK D: Masa Kitamiya vs Akitoshi Saito

Masa Kitamiya with the Saito Suplex (7 minutes, 58 seconds)

Finals Night

Sunday, October 3rd - Korakuen Hall

Starts: 11:30am JST Broadcast: ABEMA & WrestleUniverse

Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya

Kenoh via reversal (15 minutes, 35 seconds)

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Masakatsu Funaki

Katsuhiko Nakajima with the Vertical Spike (8 minutes, 38 seconds)

League finalists:  Kenoh vs Katsuhiko Nakajima

League winner: Katsuhiko Nakajima 

Diamond Bomb* (20 minutes)

*Not a move he has done recently

TITLE MATCH NIGHT

Sunday, October 10th - EDION Arena Osaka 1st Stadium

Starts: 16:00 JST Broadcast: ABEMA

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Naomichi Marufuji

BROADCASTS

The ABEMA broadcasts should hopefully be free and worldwide, but you can only watch them live. You must be a subscriber to watch the replays on ABEMA and I would not recommend that you subscribe unless you are either based in Japan or have a VPN that you know works as finding a compatible VPN can be notoriously difficult, time consuming and expensive. I would recommend that you either subscribe to WrestleUniverse (900 yen per month) or buy the PPV of the bigger shows from FITE TV. FITE are not listed yet on the official Noah site as covering these shows, but I am sure this will change nearer the time. Both FITE and WrestleUniverse have commentary in English. 

OTHER NEWS

- Kazunari Murakami was the original entrant in Block B in Kendo Kashin's spot. However, Murakami had to leave the league in mid August due to a sciatic nerve condition and King Tany and Kendo Kashin fought for the entry in his place. 

- Kaito Kiyomiya debuted a new look on Night 2

- Although he had scored the same as Masaaki Mochizuki, Kenoh was judged the block winner as he was the one who got the points and won that night to equalize. 

EVENT RECAPS & POST MATCH INTERVIEWS

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Special Prologue (6th September 2021, Shinjuku FACE) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Night 1 (12th September 2021, Korakuen Hall) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Night 2 (18th September 2021, Noah Special Arena) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Night 3 (19th September 2021, Noah Special Arena) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Night 4 (20th September 2021, Noah Special Arena) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Night 5 (26th September 2021, Korakuen Hall) (Post match interviews)

N-1 VICTORY 2021: Finals night (3rd October 2021, Korakuen Hall) (Post match interviews)

LINKS

"Keiji Mutoh is a new student", Boston Crab or instant defeat, "Road to Triple Crown" Interview with Takashi Sugiura about carving open the N-1.

In the challenge of the N-1 "The enemy is myself"; Interview with Keiji Mutoh who will participate in a league for the first time in 12 years. 

Worried Ace Kaito Kiyomiya, evokes his own "wildness" in his determination to surpass Keiji Mutoh

"Can you see the future of Noah in an aging league match?" Interview with Kenoh about the N-1 Victory 2021.

"I want to destroy it", Interview with Katsuhiko Nakajima towards the unprecedented N-1 consecutive championship

Proving "Junior Power" to Sakuraba, Tanaka and Nakajima in his N-1 participation - interview with Kotaro Suzuki. 

With the theme of evolution and presence, an interview with Daiki Inaba with a view to dispelling the "broken dream of the W-1 era".

N-1 PRESS CONFERENCE BLOCK A: Mutoh confesses "upset", Kiyomiya "I will grasp something"

N-1 PRESS CONFERENCE BLOCK B: "COME ON!" Kenoh's rage at Kashin's tactics, will "destroy you in the first match"

N-1 PRESS CONFERENCE BLOCK C: For consecutive championships Nakajima appeared with bright blonde hair, Sakuraba said "I wonder if everyone can be choked..."

N-1 PRESS CONFERENCE BLOCK D: "N is for "Nothing" Beast Fujita's venomous interjection

"Maybe it will be my last league, that is why I want to fight without regrets" 52 year old Masakatsu Funaki enters Noah's N-1 with a sad determination

"The Supernova of Japanese wrestling" faces the N-1 with a new look. Has he finally escaped from the long tunnel? 

Kenoh towards the N-1 semi finals; "Now Kaito Kiyomiya just rides on an electric wheelchair on the road the company paved for him from the old people's home"

"The best fresh feeling" Naomichi Marufuji aspires to a "same unit confrontation" with Funaki, a request for the 10th October Osaka event

"I'm the only one!" Kenoh's law, domination of the N-1 and putting Marufuji on notice for the taking of the GHC. 

Series of interviews with Katsuhiko Nakajima

"Masa Kitamiya is still one of the cute juniors" 

"I simply want to aim for the N-1 consecutive championship"

"Kazushi Sakuraba has a high IQ for professional wrestling"

"Noah has Noah's good points, New Japan has New Japan's. It is the fans who compare them" 

"This will not be a long match. It will be a tense and brutal match that will end in one go" - Katsuhiko Nakajima puts Masakatsu Funaki on notice for the N-1 semi finals

YOUTUBE LINKS

N-1 VICTORY press conference video

Opening night pre-show (12.9.21, YouTube)